Hell
"A Realm of evil, fire, brimstone, and the punished. It is here that the Demons rule over their subjects" -Outkast, on Hell Hell is one of the several Realms attached to the K2 Universe, and is generally an overarching term used to describe the Realm of the dead and punished souls of mortals, as well as the home of Demons and Demonic Emergy. However, Hell is specifically a term used for the Abrahamic Realm of eternal damnation, created by God to punish the souls of dead sinners and traitorous Angels for all eternity. Due to K2's nature as a collection of all mythological legends and tales, Hell encompasses all religious and mythological depictions of an Underworld or realm of eternal punishment, with the Abrahamic depiction of Hell at the ruling seat of them all. As mortals living on Earth in the K2 Universe, the place of your eternal slumber depends on the religion in which you personally believe. Originally, those who died on Earth would have their souls taken either to Heaven or Hell, where they are then separated amongst the various depictions. However, with the Razing of Heaven and Satan's subsequent murder, this original system fell into disrepair and an eventual state of complete chaos. Now, the souls of mortals arrive in either Heaven or Hell, with those initially arriving in Heaven being caught by a Demon and then sent down to Hell anyway. With all souls now in Hell, a large majority are forcibly kept in the Christian depiction of Hell, where they are used to fuel the civil war between the Demons, while those lucky few are still sent off to their assigned versions of the Afterlife. Hierarchy Due to the many depictions and interpretations of Hell that exist across religion and folklore, the K2 Universe was organized in such a way that the Great Martyrs chose one interpretation to act as the overarching ruler of the lesser depictions. The chosen representative would be the largest and most pervasive depiction of eternal punishment and an Afterlife. As such, the Christian (or Abrahamic) interpretation of Hell was elected to be the ruling plane of afterlifes and underworlds. From Hell itself, Satan ruled both his Hell, and acted as the immediate superior to the rulers of the other, lesser Underworlds. List of Lesser Hells: # Underworld/Hades (Greek) # The Chinvat Bridge (Zoroastrianism) Travel Transport between Realms is very, very difficult, as mortal beings are not meant to enter either Heaven or Hell. As such, the information for transplanar travel is an incredibly valuable asset to any wizard, warlock, Lich, or organization. While travel between Realms is unnatural and goes against the normal order of the Universe, it is still very possible, and is a technique used frequently by powerful groups within the K2 Universe to achieve their goals. Techniques Techniques for transplanar travel vary, depending on the methods and magic used. Portals can be opened, deals can be struck with Demons or other paranormal entities, advanced teleportation across Realms is possible, tearing holes in Reality, utilizing Wishes or other Reality-Warping means, and more are all options to travel across Realms. However, many of these techniques come with high costs or dangerous consequences to those who attempt to utilize them improperly. Opening portals can lead to paranormal entities coming from the other side, leading you somewhere you had not intended to go, or could result in incomplete or awry transport of individuals or small groups. Striking deals with Demons or Angels is never advised, although it is a guaranteed method of transplanar travel (if the terms of the contract are ignored). Teleportation is unpredictable, and may send the user to an undesired location by accident. Ripping holes in Reality can lead to anomalous events and plenty of unpredictable side effects, many of which will harm the user or even the wider Universe. All methods come with high costs and plenty of complicated steps in order to properly make use of them, making some more preferable or affordable than others. All of the techniques described above can be used to reach Hell and its subdivisions. Consequences Improperly entering into Hell comes with a number of imminent dangers, as is to be expected. Those living beings who enter Hell are therefore subjected to a number of harmful consequences: * Extremely high temperatures in Hell keep large sections of the Realm's flooring in a state of molten rock, the ambient temperature being enough to kill a normal human in a matter of hours, while the magma and lava is more than guaranteed to do in any unlucky traveler. All but the strongest of mundane protection will be insufficient in keeping out Hell's unnatural burn, with magic being the more common method of staying safe. * No living matter exists naturally in Hell, not only due to the Realm's unnatural temperatures. Travelers stuck in Hell will die of thirst from the heat and lack of available water, but even if access to water is somehow obtained, finding unpoisoned food is all but impossible. * Demons will actively attack any living mortal on sight, for multiple reasons. Demons in Hell can also sense living Souls, and will not only attack but will also actively seek out living beings that trespass on their Realm without Demonic guides of their own. Some Demons also gather pleasure and power from torturing those unlucky few living mortals, known as Sires of Insanity, and will actively torture living beings as they enter Hell. * Hell itself will slowly attempt to kill living beings that enter its boundaries, draining their sanity and eternal soul. Extended exposure to Hell, even in protective equipment, has been shown to kill a normal human in 6 weeks, their soul slowly being separated from their living body as the Realm attempts to permanently trap the soul. * Hallucinations, visions, dreams, voices, and other forms of cognitohazards have been observed as occuring in even the strongest of living minds eventually. While the weak-willed will succumb to insanity in a matter of hours, the strong-minded can often survive for several weeks without suffering any negative effects at all. This side effect is fairly unpredictable, and depends entirely on a person's individual mental fortitude, with magicians and those already exposed to Hell and its creatures being observed as almost immune entirely. * Miscellaneous anomalies of all sorts are commonplace throughout Hell, from gravitational inconsistencies, to entities spontaneously forming from the walls and floors, to outright geographic terraforming. All of these anomalies are caused by the Demonic ruler of a particular region within Hell, their Reality-warping power passively effecting the environment under their rule in odd and unpredictable ways, usually corresponding to the Demon's preferred trope or theme. Death of a Mortal in Hell If a living mortal dies whilst traveling through Hell, their souls are permanently and automatically trapped in that depiction of Hell. Mortal souls who find themselves improperly introduced to the Realm of Hell can suffer a number of side effects due to their "illegal" entrance into the Realm. * Souls belonging to people of excellent reputation and to those with few sins are still stuck in Hell. * If a person is traveling through an alternate depiction of Hell than the one in which they believe, and they suffer an unfortunate demise at the hands of a Demon, then that mortal is trapped in the alternate interpretation of Hell, even though they do not personally believe it to be correct. * Mortals killed in areas of Hell that do not correspond to that person's sins are still subjected to that area's preferred method and theme of eternal torture, regardless of the newly-dead person's indiviudal sins. * Even if Salvation is an option in the specific interpretation of Hell in which a mortal soul is trapped, a mortal soul improperly introduced to said depiction of Hell has no chance of Salvation. One Hell to Rule Them All The Christian interpretation of Hell was chosen by the Great Martyrs to be the representative of the Lesser Hells, due to Christianity's sheer size and popularity amongst the mortal worshippers of Earth. Hell was created by the Christian God as a Realm of eternal punishment and damnation, used to torture the souls of dead mortal sinners and act as a prison for Satan and his legions of treacherous Angels. History: Created immediately after Satan's betrayal of God, Hell started out as a Realm of pure fire and pain. However, Satan's raw power and metaphysical properties as an Angel proved strong enough to bend reality, allowing Satan to declare himself rightful king of Hell and shape the Realm into something in his own, twisted image. Turning Hell into an infinite plane of varying levels and divisions, Satan also took to mutating and twisting those treacherous Angels into the first Demons, choosing the most powerful Angels to act as his Demon Princes, generals, and assistants. In 2024, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Apostles were all killed by Database as a mission from the Great Martyrs. A year later, in 2025, 5 years after the Collide, Satan led his Demonic armies in the Razing of Heaven, when the forces of Hell successfully invaded Heaven and led a genocide against the Angels. Dragging all of Heaven's surviving souls to Hell, Hell became the most powerful Realm in K2. In 2027, Satan's Demon Princes led a revolt of the likes unseen by any mortals, slaying Satan on his throne and plunging Hell into an eternal civil war. The surviving Demon Princes were unable to choose a new ruler of Hell, instead deciding that the ruler was best chosen through a war. While the civil war still rages on, several of the Originals still remain as powerful Princes within Hell, although many have either been killed, trapped, enslaved, subjugated, or worse, while thousands of lesser Demon Princes rise and fall every year. Hell was carved up in a new feudal system of politics, eternally trapping the Realm in a state of constant warfare and absolute chaos. Because of this, each Demon Prince rules his kingdom differently, has different priorities and thoughts on how Hell should be organized, and often their own pseudo-culture or even dialect of Infernal. The Circles As K2's metaphysical laws run, Hell's regions are also dictated by literary works such as Dante's Inferno. Dante himself is one of the few mortals to have entered Hell and survived for an unknown period of time, before emerging back into Reality with some semblance of sanity and physical health remaining. Dante remains one of the largest contributors to humanity's knowledge of Demons and Hell, outdoing even captured Demons. As such, the 9 Circles of Hell also exist, but are in a different region of the Christian Hell than others may believe. In fact, there are far more than 9 Circles of Hell. Each time a particular sin becomes particularly popular amongst the mortal members of Earth, Hell changes its geography to create a new Circle to reflect a torture worthy of this popular sin. This means that there are hundreds, if not thousands of Circles at any one time, always changing and growing and shrinking in size and power and population. The Circles of Hell are also the areas of Hell purely dedicated to torturing mortal souls. No Demons are made in the Circles, nor do any Demons lay claim to the Circles as part of their kingdoms. Instead, the Circles of Hell are seen as a form of power generator, creating the currency, known as Suffers, for the denizens of Hell to use. The Circles also add more and more Demonic Energy to the Realm, which in turn boosts the power of all Demons of all ranks, and also further bolsters Hell itself.